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CNPS welcomes anyone interested in native plants to join our events. No expertise required.
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Evening Program
October 14, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. “Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change.” Professional conservation photographers Rob Badger and Nita Winter present the story of their falling in love with California’s spectacular wildflower blooms and developing their documentary art project, an award-winning book and traveling exhibit. Always using natural light in the field and leaving the subject plant unharmed, they developed tricks and techniques to create stunning portraits of California wildflowers. Their photos of dramatic California scenery also reflect their artists’ touch and patience. Their book is available at www.wildflowerbook.com. To register for this Zoom event go to our website.
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Field Trips
Deferring to a state CNPS request, as of today (Sept. 8) we are still not scheduling field trips. Enjoy a mid-October drive on the Titlow Hill Road-Friday Ridge Road-299 loop to see fall colors of Big-leaf Maple. Watch for the great assortment of fruits in our brushy thickets. Test yourself on recognizing plants by their seed pods or fruits. Not as showy as flowers, these structures are equally interesting and distinctive and contain the seeds, the ultimate reason for the flowers.
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Garden Diversity for Your Health
by Carol Ralph
A book about the uninvited life that inhabits our homes seems an unlikely place to find the message to plant a diverse, native garden. As recounted in Never Home Alone, diversity is the main theme that has emerged from the decades-long, varied work of microbiologist Rob Dunn and his diverse colleagues. One of the fascinating stories in his book is about a study in Finland that tested teens for allergies by measuring their IgE antibodies, documented their bacterial flora using DNA analysis of samples from their forearms, and characterized their homes by counting the number of kinds of non-native plants, native plants, and rare native plants in their backyards. The researchers found that teens living with higher diversity of rare plants had different bacteria, a greater diversity of bacteria, and a reduced risk of allergies compared to the other teens. This summary does not explain why they distinguished rare from common plants for this study, but the very complete notes reference the original publication so the reader can follow up such questions. A diverse, native garden can make you feel good in more ways than one!
A diverse, native garden.
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Missed the Plant Sale?
Do not despair! Our native plants are available every day, 12 noon-6 p.m., at the Kneeland Glen Farm Stand at Freshwater Farms Reserve, 5851 Myrtle Ave. If you don’t see what you want, contact us at northcoastcnps@gmail.com.